Odd Noises in the Kitchens
by lunaleth
Summary: Holiday spirit is definitely in the air. Lily and James loosen up a bit and nibble cookies, argue, and giggle. LJ


**Odd Noises in the Kitchens  
**By Lunaleth

12.23.2009

Holiday spirit is definitely in the air. Lily and James loosen up a bit and nibble cookies, argue, and giggle. LJ

* * *

Holiday spirit was definitely in the air.

The castle was decorated beautifully. Pearly spheres of light floated every few feet along the corridors. The suits of armor sang carols merrily (though admittedly slightly out of tune). Glistening bundles of mistletoe hung in every corner, and even the portrait inhabitants were decked out in festive gear. The Great Hall was filled with a dozen enormous pine trees covered in ornaments, ribbons, and light. Christmas was only a few days away.

Most of the students found themselves to be in happy, spirited moods.

Lily Evans was definitely not in a pleasant mood.

The excitement of the holidays hadn't discouraged her teachers. Before winter break, they had piled homework and projects onto the poor seventh year students in preparation for N.E.W.T. exams. Which were in June. June! It wasn't even Christmas yet, for crying out loud. Add in the burden of extra Head duties overseeing the holiday festivities, and Hogwarts had itself one very annoyed red-headed girl.

She sat in the Common Room in front of a mountain of books. Herbology, Arithmancy, Transfiguration…oh, she hated Transfiguration with a passion. When in the world would she ever need to transfigure a cat into a candle? She was allergic to cats, the hairy things.

Lily stared glumly at her books. She needed a break, but dinner was already over. Maybe she would take a trip down to the kitchens.

---

James Potter was in a very pleasant mood.

The holidays were his favorite time of year. There was the festive spirit, of course, but the food was also better than usual. And the teachers were usually in more lenient moods, so he and his friends got away with more "misdeeds", as McGonagall termed them (rather affectionately, he thought; he'd always suspected she had a soft spot for them).

He always did his homework the last night of winter break, so there was nothing to worry about there. James was actually a pretty smart little boy, though his devil-may-care attitude might trick some into believing otherwise. Perhaps it was this attitude which had gained him a huge network of obsessive fangirls. They always did go for the confident and carefree type.

James skipped happily down the stairs from his dormitory. He reached the empty Common Room and saw a huge pile of books on a table near the fireplace. He sighed. They were probably Lily's, and she was probably overworking herself. Again. He never understood where her drive for perfection came from, because she was far from stupid and could probably pass with flying colors with just half the effort. But that's just one of the reasons I love her, he thought and smiled.

He stared at the books, lost in thought. Then he shook himself out of it. Maybe he would bring something back from the kitchens and leave it for Lily in the Common Room, whenever she came back from wherever she was.

---

Lily sat in the kitchens near the fireplace, nursing a cup of hot chocolate and munching on a pile of white chocolate cinnamon cookies as the house elves scurried around about her, cooking and baking. They were always busiest this time of year, the poor things. She almost felt better, in a sadistic sort of way, seeing others working just as hard as, if not harder than, she was. At least they seemed to enjoy their work, she noted, shaking her head at their bright smiles and enthusiastic manner. Odd creatures.

Suddenly, the door to the kitchens cracked open, and in came James.

"Lily?" he greeted, surprised.

Lily looked up from her cookies. "Oh, hi."

"I never would've guessed that you'd know where the kitchens were," said James, grinning. He sat down across the table from her and grabbed a cookie as a house elf placed a mug of hot chocolate on the table for him. "Thanks, Rudo." The elf bowed low, delighted, and retreated.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh please, James. I've known where they were since first year."

He choked on his cookie. "WHAT? You found them even before I did! Me and Sirius stumbled across them beginning of second year." He looked at her with newfound admiration.

She smiled. "Well, I guess you shouldn't make assumptions about me then, Mr. Potter."

"Yes, Mrs. Potter," he grinned cheekily.

Lily rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

They sat in a light silence for a while, soaking in the warmth of the fire and working their way through the plate of cookies.

James broke the silence. "So what brings you down here? Taking a break?"

"Got sick of transfiguration, mostly," she laughed.

James gasped in mock horror. "Sick? Of Transfiguration? Impossible! That's the best thing they teach here in this castle!"

"That's because you're good at it." Lily stuck her tongue out at him. "And bad at Charms," she added on slyly as an afterthought.

He put his hand to his heart dramatically. "You wound me, Evans."

"The truth hurts."

"Not as much as Sirius' ego did last week when you told him Peter's nose was more handsome than his was."

"Agreed."

They laughed lightly. James reached out to take another cookie, before realizing there was only one left. He gestured chivalrously to Lily. "Here, take it."

Lily shook her head. "No, you reached for it first. You can have it."

James stubbornly pushed the plate over to Lily. "Just take it!"

She pushed it back. "No!"

He sighed, exasperated. "Goodness, Evans…it's just a damn cookie. Ignore your feminist side for just a second and take it, okay?"

She glared at him. "Feminist? Really? Well, look who's trying to be a knight in shining armor to the poor damsel in distress. Forgive me if I'm being a little defensive!"

"I wouldn't need to be a knight in shining armor if you just knew how to take care of yourself! You're working way too hard, and it's bad for your health!" he yelled.

"What I do is none of your business! It never has been!"

Lily and James were both on their feet by now, yelling across the table at each other.

"Of course it's my business! I care about what happens to you!"

"I didn't ask for you to be my mother!"

"I'm trying to be your friend!"

Lily glared at James for a bit, and then sighed. "This is ridiculous. Look, let's just split the cookie, okay?"

"Fine."

Lily broke the cookie neatly in two, and shoved one half into her mouth with perhaps a little more force than needed. James nibbled at the other.

"These really are divine," James said.

"Yeah."

"Want to have the house elves bring us another plate?"

"Sure." No sooner was that out of Lily's mouth than did two house elves scurry over with another enormous plate of cookies and two more mugs of hot chocolate. "Thanks," she smiled. The mugs were decorated with little snowmen, the adorable things.

James, sitting on the other side of the table, sighed happily. He loved Lily's smile, even when it wasn't directed at him.

"Why do you have that weird expression on your face?" Lily asked suspiciously, breaking him out of his trance.

James blinked. "I do not have a weird expression on my face!"

"Yes you do."

"Do not."

"Potter, you're such a stubborn prick."

"Look who's talking, woman."

"Jerk."

"Psycho."

"Pansy."

James smirked. "Pansy? We'll see who's a pansy." He picked up his mug of hot chocolate.

Lily glared. "You wouldn't dare."

James flung the mug of hot chocolate at her with a quick twist of his wrist, soaking her to the skin. She sat there, dripping and shocked. Suddenly, she buried her face in her hands and her shoulders started shaking.

"Lily?" he asked uncertainly. "Lily, don't cry, it was just a joke. I'm sorry Lily, don't cry, please don't cry. Please please please please with sugar on top. And cherries. Your favorite kind, with syrup." He came around the table and knelt next to her.

She peeked through her fingers, trying to stifle her laughter. He really did look contrite. And so, with a wicked glimmer in her eyes, she pushed him into a giant bag of flour that sat conveniently by their table (a bag that held enough flour to feed the entire population of Hogwarts, mind you). James fell into the bag with a shrill, surprised shriek and disappeared in a cloud of flour.

Lily rolled on the floor in spasms of laughter. "Potter! Did you just…shriek? What…a pansy," she chortled.

James climbed out of the bag, covered in flour and looking rather disgruntled. "You're a witch. In every sense of the word." Grinning, he grabbed two fistfuls of flour and tossed them at Lily, covering her head to toe.

And thus began a food war.

The house elves all ran for cover as Lily and James chased each other around the kitchen, throwing anything they could get their hands on. Gravy, rice, peas; Lily even managed to find some honey, which immediately found itself poured all over James.

As James reached for mashed potatoes, he slipped in a puddle of melted ice cream and fell flat on his face. Lily tripped over him, and the Head Boy and Head Girl of Hogwarts found themselves in a sticky, salty-sweet mess on the floor of the kitchens, laughing uncontrollably.

The house elves cautiously emerged from their various hiding places (Rudo had hidden himself in a giant soup tureen) as the pair lay on the ground, slowly catching their breath.

"Santa is definitely putting you on the naughty list this year." Lily muttered, trying to sound angry but failing spectacularly.

James laughed. "You mean that fat old man in the red suit who has flying reindeer?"

"You know of him?" Lily was surprised. "I thought that was a Muggle thing."

"Well, yeah. He was in the Muggle department store Sirius and I visited last holiday break. People were singing about him too. Isn't he the one that sees you when you're sleeping and knows when you're awake? He must be a stalker. Just like Edward Cullen. I don't know why Muggle parents would let their kids sit on his lap like that." James shook his head. "I mean, a bunch of tiny kids were lining up to meet him! And their parents were just smiling and taking pictures of a creepy old man with their kid and—what's so funny?"

Lily had collapsed into giggles. "You're kind of ridiculous."

He stuck his tongue out at her. "At least I'm not the one giggling."

"At least I didn't shriek."

"That was not a shriek!" James insisted indignantly. "That was more like a manly scream of terror."

Lily snorted. "My name is James Potter, and I shriek!" James hit her playfully.

"James Potter shrieks? What's this I'm hearing?" said a voice from the doorway. Lily and James turned their heads to see Sirius leaning against the wall. "I was going to ask James if he wanted to come down to the kitchens with me, but it appears he's already been here. And has been very busy." He took in their appearances with an amused glance. "I won't ask."

Lily and James glanced at each other, then broke out into furious giggles.

"Wow. James giggles too," Sirius chuckled. "Evans, oh Evans. You really do bring out the best in him."

* * *

Author's Note: Some silly holiday inspired happiness. Yes, it includes a slight reference to Twilight. And yes, I know Twilight is after their time. But I couldn't resist, it was a good comparison. Hehe.  
Hopefully, your holidays are filled with as much laughter and silliness as were Lily and James'.  
Happy holidays :)

lunaleth


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